Agency & the Working With Real Estate Agents Disclosure

Agency is the single largest topic on the North Carolina State section. NC builds its agency rules around three questions. Is the agreement in writing yet? Has the consumer received and reviewed Working with Real Estate Agents? Has everyone been told whom the broker represents? Most agency questions are scenarios that turn on timing, so learn each rule together with the moment it applies.

Agency agreements must be written, and when

Rule 21 NCAC 58A .0104(a) requires every agreement for brokerage services to be in writing and signed. The deadline depends on whom the broker is working with:

• Owner (seller or landlord): in writing and signed at the time the agreement is formed. A listing can't start out oral.
• Buyer or tenant: the agreement must be express from the start, but it may be oral at first. It must be put in writing and signed no later than the time either party makes an offer.
• Exception: a buyer or tenant agreement that binds the buyer for a period of time, or restricts the buyer's right to work with other agents or with no agent, must be in writing from formation.

Every written agreement must run for a definite period, show the broker's license number, and end without prior notice when that period expires. The one exception is a landlord's agreement to find tenants or collect rent: it may renew automatically, as long as the landlord can terminate with notice at the end of any period. An early-termination penalty must be clear and conspicuous. Every listing and buyer agency agreement must also include the Commission's nondiscrimination clause (Rule 58A .0104(b)).

The Working with Real Estate Agents brochure

In every real estate sales transaction, a broker must give a prospective buyer or seller the Commission's Working with Real Estate Agents publication at first substantial contact. The broker writes their name and license number on it, reviews it with the consumer, and determines whether the broker will act as the consumer's agent (Rule 58A .0104(c)).

First substantial contact is the point where the consumer or broker begins acting as though an agency relationship exists and the consumer begins to share personal or confidential information. If that contact happens by phone or electronically and handing over the brochure isn't practical, the broker must send it at the earliest opportunity and no later than three days after first substantial contact.

Example: A caller tells Broker Kim that she has to sell her Durham house before her job transfer and how low she would go. That is first substantial contact. Kim must email the brochure within three days and review it with her as soon as practical.

Disclosing whom you represent

• Seller's agent or subagent working with a buyer: must disclose in writing at first substantial contact that the broker represents the seller, including the broker's license number. If contact is by phone, disclose immediately by the same means and send the written disclosure within three days (Rule 58A .0104(e)).
• Buyer's agent: must tell the seller or seller's agent at initial contact that they represent the buyer. Except at auctions, they must also give written confirmation no later than delivery of an offer. The confirmation may be in the offer itself and must include the license number (Rule 58A .0104(f)).

Dual agency and designated agency

A broker representing one party may not also represent another party in the same transaction without the written authority of each party (Rule 58A .0104(d)). Under N.C.G.S. § 93A-6(a)(4), acting for more than one party without everyone's knowledge is grounds for discipline. Because the firm is the agent, a firm representing both buyer and seller is a dual agent and must disclose that (Rule 58A .0104(i)).

With prior express approval of both clients, a dual-agent firm may use designated agency. It names one or more brokers to represent only the seller and others to represent only the buyer (Rule 58A .0104(j)). Limits:

• A broker who has actually received confidential information about the other party can't be designated.
• A BIC can't be a designated broker against a provisional broker they supervise who represents a competing party.
• The designated seller's broker may not disclose, without permission, that the seller would accept other terms, the seller's motivation, or information the seller marked confidential (Rule 58A .0104(k)). The buyer side gets the mirror-image protection.

Dual agent

A firm (and its brokers) representing more than one party in the same transaction, with written authority from each.

Designated agent

An individual broker in a dual-agent firm assigned to represent only one party's interests.

Duties owed to everyone: material facts

Agency decides whose interests you advance. It does not let you hide facts from the other side. A broker may be disciplined for any willful or negligent misrepresentation or omission of material fact (§ 93A-6(a)(1)). A broker representing either the owner or the purchaser must disclose material facts the broker knows or reasonably should know. That duty is separate from the seller's disclosure statement, which does not remove it (Rule 58A .0114(c)). A material fact is one a reasonable person would see as relevant to the purchase decision.

What a broker may not share is a competing party's offer. Without the offering party's express authority, a broker may not reveal the price or other material terms of an offer to a competing party (Rule 58A .0115).

Brokers buying and selling for themselves

A broker selling property in which the broker has an ownership interest may not represent the buyer of that property. There are two exceptions. A broker selling commercial real estate in which the broker has less than a 25 percent ownership interest may represent the buyer if the buyer consents after full written disclosure of that interest. A firm listing a property owned by one of its brokers may also represent the buyer, as long as the broker representing the buyer has no ownership interest and the buyer consents after full written disclosure (Rule 58A .0104(o)). A listing broker who wants to buy the listing must first disclose the conflict in writing and suggest independent counsel. The broker must then terminate the listing or transfer it to another broker in the firm before contracting (Rule 58A .0104(p)).

Where this shows up on the exam

Agency carries 16 of the 60 scored State items in the Pearson NC outline (April 2026), more than a quarter of the section. Expect timing scenarios (when the agreement must be written, when the brochure is due), designated-agent confidentiality, and material-fact omissions.

Sources

North Carolina law as published by the General Assembly and the Office of Administrative Hearings, checked 2026-11-05:

• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(a)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(b)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(c)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(d)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(e)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(f)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(i)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(j)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(k)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(l)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(o)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0104(p)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0114(c)
• 21 NCAC 58A .0115
• N.C.G.S. § 93A-13
• N.C.G.S. § 93A-6(a)(1)
• N.C.G.S. § 93A-6(a)(4)
• Pearson VUE, Real Estate Licensing in North Carolina (April 2026), Examination Content Outline